Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has issued freeze orders on bank accounts of lawmakers and officials implicated in alleged kickbacks from flood-control projects in Bulacan.
Remulla said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has submitted documents to the AMLC, including the sworn affidavit of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan first district engineer Henry Alcantara.
He said Alcantara’s affidavit gave details of kickback transactions supposedly intended for Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, Rep. Zaldy Co, former Rep. Mitch Cajayon-Uy, and former DPWH undersecretary Robert Bernardo.
The justice secretary added that the DOJ also informed the AMLC of a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recommendation to file charges against the five, along with Alcantara himself.
“Given that, I believe freeze orders have already been issued by the AMLC over the bank accounts of these persons,” Remulla told senators during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.
Alcantara also confirmed earlier claims by his deputy, Brice Ericson Hernandez, that commissions were delivered to Estrada and Villanueva.
Alcantara alleged Estrada received a 25 percent “proponent’s commission” from a P355 million budget allocation he inserted in the 2025 national budget, coursed through Bernardo.
For Villanueva, Alcantara claimed the DPWH Bulacan district awarded P600 million in flood-control funds under the 2023 budget’s unprogrammed appropriations, from which the senator allegedly received a 25 percent cut, or P150 million.
Villanueva had no listed flood-control projects in Bulacan, but Alcantara alleged the senator had pressed for P1.2 billion for building projects.
Alcantara further alleged that Co collected commissions from 426 projects worth P35 billion between 2022 and 2025. He said the lawmaker initially demanded a 20 percent cut in 2022, later raising it to 25 percent starting in 2023.
Cajayon-Uy, meanwhile, was said to have received a 10 percent commission from 11 flood-control projects valued at P411 million in 2022, according to a previous testimony by Hernandez.
Cajayon-Uy, however, had strongly denied this allegation. (For further details and related stories, see page B1)
